hiemal

PRONUNCIATION:

(HY-uh-muhl)

MEANING:

adjective: Of or relating to winter.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin hiems (winter). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghei-
(winter), which is the ancestor of words such as chimera,
hibernate, and the Himalayas
(from Sanskrit him (snow) + alaya (abode)). Earliest documented use: 1560.

USAGE:

"Painted turtles tend to move into deeper water during the autumnal
season, and dormancy occurs during the hiemal period."
Carl Ernst and Jeffrey Lovich; Turtles of the United States and Canada;
The Johns Hopkins University Press; 2009.

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed. -Herman Melville, novelist and poet (1819-1891)